Allen Christens Crum 3-1 Soccer

September 04, 1985|by GARY R. BLOCKUS, The Morning Call

Last year, the Allen soccer team played its games on a battlefield years as a parking lot.

This year, the Canaries are playing their home games in J. Birney Crum Stadium and yesterday Coach Barry Nagle's squad christened its new home with a 3-1 East Penn Conference victory over cross-town rival Dieruff.

The win on the hot and humid afternoon upped the Canaries to 2-0 on the young season while the Huskies of coach Bill Landis evened their record at 1-1.

Akilis Theoharidis, the Canaries chief threat from last year, connected for two goals on some shifty assists from Phu Tran to provide the momentum for Allen. Despite the precision work on those two goals, the game started slowly as both teams tried to accommodate their game to the rounded middle of the field.

In fact, the East Siders drew first blood. After a scoreless first period, Huskie junior Martin Hind connected on a beautiful cross to sophomore Edson Langes, who booted the ball into the right corner of the goal, past a diving Rolf Oeler, the Allen keeper, 3:10 into the second quarter.

Allen responded 2:28 later with a picture goal. Howard Hilton worked the ball on the right side of the field, then launched a diagonal pass across the middle. Phu Tran touched the ball forward to Theoharidis, who scored from in front to tie the game.

"My team is really inexperienced," noted Dieruff's Landis. "I've only got three seniors. I thought they were going to pull it off after the first goal, and I was a little disappointed when (Allen's goal) happened."

With almost eight minutes remaining in the opening half, the Tran- Theoharidi s tandem stopped the clock again. Tran's throw in was alertly picked up by Theoharidis, who launched another bullet from in front to make it 2-1 at the half.

"That second quarter was a good team effort," opined Nagle, who frankly admitted that his team didn't look as sharp as it should have for the opening 20 minutes.

"We're not used to playing on this field," he confirmed of the stadium. "It's much faster than what we're used to playing on.

"Our two-touch passing game was off on this field. We were too fast or too slow or too far with our passes.

The Canaries capped the scoring 6:44 into the third stanza when Hilton scored by taking the ball off charging teammate Jack Madeira. Madeira had pulled out Dieruff goalie Mike Hanna, and Hilton saw the open side of the net and pushed the ball in himself.

The spirited play saw the stars of both teams, Hind and Theoharidis, leave the game briefly with minor injuries. The defense on both sides was outstanding.

Gabi Richan made several key defensive plays for Dieruff, and Pier Richan worked well at midfield. John Andronis did a fine job marking Hind. Allen's Scott Gibbons played aggressively at fullback.

FREEDOM 3

EMMAUS 2

Defending district and East Penn Conference champion Freedom scored three goals in the opening period, then sat back while Emmaus went on the attack, but held on for a 3-2 win over the visitors yesterday.

Freedom (2-0) went ahead 1-0 just 12:30 into the game when Paul Renn made a long pass to Dave Mittl, who scored to the lower left corner. John Gerardo scored his first goal at the 16-minute mark on a header from a Helder Moreira corner, then added his second marker three minutes later after Moreira beat a man and passed to Gerardo at the 18.

Emmaus (1-1) picked up a goal three minutes into the second half when Bill Burfiend took a through pass from Andy Halsey and rifled it past goalie Svein Hansen. Emmaus closed the score to 3-2 with three minutes left in the game when Brent DeFanti scored over keeper Craig Katynski's head.

Wences Bettencourt scored 7:26 into a second overtime period yesterday to give Phillipsburg a 3-2 win over Parkland in an East Penn Conference soccer contest.

Bettencourt's goal, off an assist by Rob Meixsell, came from the right side from about 10 yards away. The two other P'burg goals were scored by Bill Muller on assists from Mike Zikas and Paul Keller.

Parkland goals were scored by Rich Sadler and Randy Kingoman. Wathan Barbonous picked up the lone Trojan assist. Kingoman's goal tied the game at 2-2 with 12:44 gone in the third period and set the stage for the overtime periods.

P'burg held an 18-16 edge in shots on goal. Jason London and Dan Veberg combined for 13 saves for Parkland, while Mike Gallagher stopped 12 shots in the nets for P'burg.

Brian Krcelich's penalty shot in the first period gave the Hurricane a 1-0 lead and Matt Petraglia's corner kick to Heffner put the count at 2-0.

Bobby Miller got Easton on the board before Heffner shut the door with his second goal of the match.

Liberty outshot Easton 26-10.

Easton's Steve Steckel stopped 17.

BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC 6

NORTHAMPTON 0

Pete Gillen scored a pair of goals to help Bethlehem Catholic post a 6-0 win over Northampton yesterday in an East Penn Conference soccer contest.

Gillen opened the Hawk scoring four minutes into the first period on an assist from Steve Chung. Chung and Dave Hopler picked up goals on penalty kicks in the second period, while Gillen and Bill Walker also added markers in the period. Neil Walker and Paul Zeybold closed the scoring with goals in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.